The Courts Garden

The Courts Garden at Holt in Wiltshire is a classic English country garden in the Arts and Crafts style beside a clothier's house of about 1720 that once served as the village court where cloth weavers settled their disputes. Laid out from 1900 by the architect Sir George Hastings and developed from 1921 by Lady Cecilie Goff, who left it to the National Trust in 1943, it is arranged as garden rooms: water gardens and ponds, herbaceous borders, topiary and a kitchen garden, with an arboretum carpeted with spring bulbs. Dogs on short leads are welcome outside the kitchen garden, children can borrow nature spotter sheets, and picnics are welcome on the orchard benches. Reviewers describe a smaller garden than most National Trust sites, but a peaceful one that fills a relaxing couple of hours. Tips from visitors: park free in the Holt Village Hall car park opposite rather than on the village streets; the takeaway coffee trailer by the bookshop has toilets and a picnic area beside it.